Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995.
Contact: MPetrelis_at_AOL_dot_com.
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Thursday, April 30, 2015

Homeless Center on Caltrans Land, Techie Gopman Disliked?

You know the drill by now. A public records request to Mayor Ed Lee about his homeless Navigation Center on Mission near 16th Street produced hundreds of emails, including one about where to move the center after the pilot program ends and the property must be vacated.

San Francisco homeless czar Bevan Dufty in March wrote to a Caltrans official, suggesting one of the properties should be considered as the new location for the center:

"One possibility could be Caltrans property given that this [homeless issue] will always be a challenger around your properties. Can we identify someone who could work with John [Updike, head of the SF Real Estate Department] to explore possible locations?"

The response from Caltrans must have been verbally communicated because there was no email in the responsive public records released from the state agency.

Also in the records was a curious string of emails from Greg Gopman, a controversial young local tech dude who last year wildly demonized the homeless folks on the streets and government policies, and recently put on a town hall meeting at the Nourse Theater to discuss homeless matter.

As a side note, there were practically no currently or formerly homeless San Francisco people on the panels or in the audience of Gopman's meeting, according to people who were present.

Gopman emails Sam Dodge, an aide in Dufty's homeless coordinator office, asking for a phone chat and Dodge shares the request and his deep dislike of Gopman with Rebecca Foster in the Mayor's Office. Nice to see how public officials discuss their true thoughts about members of the public!